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Welcome to my blog! I am a Houston portrait and wedding photographer,
and I also custom design wedding and special event stationery.
This is where I share photos of my latest portrait sessions, design assignments,
and personal projects. Take a look around to see what I've been up to and
be sure to let me know what you think. I love comments!

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Friday, January 27, 2012

One of the best pieces of business advice that has stuck with me is "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." As I mentally filed it away, I told myself I would apply this towards saying no when I'm stretched too thin, outsourcing tedious tasks, and putting money towards things I could do myself, because at the end of the day, my time is valuable!

I will be the first to admit that I am horrible at taking this advice. I want to do everything. Because I want to be in control, I want to take ownership, and I want the satisfaction of knowing I've accomplished the goal. And yet this is how I end up with so many unfinished projects!

At the start of 2010, (yes - now TWO years ago) I decided I would redesign my website. Never mind that I was stretched thin, could outsource this, and had the resources to do so. The site was horribly outdated, didn't send the proper message of who I am or the services I provide, and well it was kinda ugly. At the time I built it I was limited to what I could code and design based on the knowledge of my college coursework, and at the start of 2010 I felt I could do a lot better. Well, kind of.

I had to check books out of the library, I spent hours pouring over the internet, drawing sketches in Illustrator, staying up late writing my own CSS and HTML, etc. Yes, I had the satisfaction and control over my personal project, but for what? I stumbled upon this wonderful product available that I could buy for a few hundred dollars that would have put all that nonsense to bed. But no! I had to do it to prove some silly little nonsense to myself. Right.

That site never saw the light of day. I got it to a testing stage and it currently lives in a testing folder on my server. And it never will see the light of day. Because TWO WEEKS ago (yes, I went from two years spinning my wheels to two weeks making stuff happen) I bought that wonderful product. The one I was so adamant against. And I feel like a fool. It's amazing. ProPhoto has given me the ability to custom design my site from a template I selected and make it entirely my own. Without knowing any code or writing my own CSS. Their customer service is incredibly responsive and helpful and I've been able to build my entire site + blog in two weeks! Now I'll have a seamless design all wrapped up in a nice little blogsite package. And I couldn't be happier. I was in control. I took ownership. And I'm pretty darn satisfied with the outcome. Why must lessons always be learned the hard way?

Here's a few screenshots of my new site! I am so excited to introduce it. But It isn't live just yet :)

And for the satisfaction of seeing how far I've come, a few other screenshots.

This blog, the one I adapted with my own design from a free template found online:

The 2010 website redesign, or the site that will never see the light of day, that I designed to match this blog:

My website, as it still appeared up until the ProPhoto redesign, that I published right out of college to promote myself:

And the very first website I ever created myself, as part of a college course. To my instructor, Cindy Royal, I owe everything I know about web design, HTML, CSS, etc. to you! Your class started it all for me, and it's been a wonderful journey.

About Kelly Tarleton

I've always been a creative person, and the one who always had a camera on-hand at a moment's notice for any occasion. Photography and graphic design dominated my life in school and I loved every minute of it. I miss that constant creative outlet and want to share more of it with my family and friends through this blog.See more of my work at my website: http://www.kellytarleton.com/.